‘Was beaten up by Taliban but am alive’: Afghan reporter on news of his death

The reports of a local news reporter, Ziar Yaad Khan, being killed by the Taliban in Kabul are false. The reporter took to Twitter to clarify. 

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“I was beaten by the Taliban in Kabul’s New City while reporting. Cameras, technical equipment and my personal mobile phone have also been hijacked. Some people have spread the news of my death which is false. The Taliban got out of an armored Land Cruiser and hit me at gunpoint,” Khan tweeted.

“I still don’t know why they behaved like that and suddenly attacked me. The issue has been shared with Taliban leaders; however, the perpetrators have not yet been arrested, which is a serious threat to freedom of expression,” he further said. 

Media reports earlier said that the TOLO reporter had died after being beaten up by the Taliban. 

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As per TOLO News reports, Ziar Yaad Khan and his cameraman were beaten by the Taliban for unknown reasons while reporting on poverty and unemployment at the Haji Yaqub intersection in Kabul.

 “When we were taking pictures, the Taliban came and without telling us who they were, took my mobile phone,” TOLO News quoted Khan. 

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Ahmadullah Wasiq, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, according to reports, said, “The Kabul Command has assured us that it is investigating this, and wherever there is a problem for journalists, we will try to address it.”

This news comes a day after a Reuters investigation found that photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed after being left behind during a military retreat while he was covering the conflict between Afghan government forces and the Taliban. The Pulitzer Prize winner was employed with Reuters and killed in July. 

A  report by a US-based magazine on July 29 claimed that Siddiqui  was not simply killed in a crossfire in Afghanistan, nor was he simply collateral damage, but was “brutally murdered” by the Taliban after verifying his identity.